JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS’
PRONUNCIATION MASTERY ON WORDS
INTRODUCED IN THE GOVERNMENT TEXTBOOK
(In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic
year 2008/2009)
a final project
submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan
In English
by
Achmad Burhanudin 2201405551
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
LANGUAGES AND ARTS FACULTY
SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY
ii
ABSTRACT
Burhanudin, Achmad. 2009. Junior High School Students’ Pronunciation Mastery
on Words Introduced in the Government Textbook (In case of the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009). Semarang: English Department, Languages and Arts
Faculty, Semarang State University.
This final project discussed about junior high school students’ pronunciation mastery on words introduced in government textbook. The objective of this final project was to know the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara’s mastery in pronouncing English words stated in their textbook. Moreover, this study was also conducted to find the words found difficult for the students to pronounce.
The population of this study was the seventh grade students of SMP N 2 Jepara in academic year 2008/2009. Out of 300 students were taken randomly 16% or 45 students as the respondents. The data were 564 of content words which were found in their text book entitled Joyful English Book 1 for SMP/MTs Class
VII published by Aneka Ilmu. Only 10% or 56 words which consist of 35 nouns,
12 verbs, 7 adjectives, and 2 adverbs were used as the test item. In selecting the data the writer used a purposive and random sampling technique.
The students were tested to pronounce the selected words and the writer recorded them using a tape recorder. Their recordings were used as the source of the data collection. Then, the recordings were analysed and interpreted.
After interpreting and analysing the data, the writer found out that the average proportion of the correct pronunciations was 73.21. It showed that the students were considered to be good in mastering English pronunciation of words revealed in their text book based on the criterion stated in the Curriculum 2004. Furthermore, there were three words found difficult to be pronounced by the students. They were favorite, garden, and word.
Based on the results above, it can be seen that the students’ achievement were satisfying. In order to improve the students whose pronunciation skills are unsatisfactory, the writer suggests several points. For examples, asking them to join the extracurricular activities which are related to English, asking them to watch English movies or English programs on TV, to listen to English songs, and to practice in their daily activities with their fellows so they can acquire the habit of using correct pronunciation.
